


There's a First Time For Everything

by 2inchlich



Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood and Gore, Burns, Cigarettes, Cruelty, Original Character(s), Other, Shrinking, Size Difference, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:15:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24400423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2inchlich/pseuds/2inchlich
Summary: A man has his first official day on the job at a government facility that experiments on shrunken people, and finds out that he's a piece of shit and enjoys hurting people.  Semi-graphic/graphic gore is present, so consider yourself warned.
Kudos: 7





	There's a First Time For Everything

The fluorescent lights hum overhead. The sound is familiar but droning, and Cutler is certain it was a conscious decision on the part of the administration to assign him somewhere that he’d be at least mildly annoyed constantly. They said he’d have to ‘get rough’ with a few test subjects. He doesn’t know what that means specifically. They said his mentor would step in to stop him if he went too far, but that he likely wouldn’t be able to accomplish that. Going ‘too far’ didn’t seem to be a concept here. 

“You’ll do fine,” the older man leaning against the wall behind him muses with a small chuckle. “You look tense.” 

Cutler rolls his shoulders back and cracks his knuckles, nodding. “I am tense. What are the test subjects like?” He asks, leaning back in his uncomfortable metal chair and glancing over his shoulder at his mentor. The older man with deep olive skin and graying hair shakes his head. “It’s better if you just see them. I’m guessing they didn’t tell you much? They didn’t tell me either. It’s fun seeing how people react to them for the first time.”

The door on the opposite side of the steel table swings open, and an attendant carries in a metal box. It’s small. Cutler wonders if there’s a tool in there they want him to use. He runs a hand over his light blond hair, sitting up straighter and trying to look presentable. He smiles, politely but professionally, at the attendant. She doesn’t return the smile as she sets the box down on the table in front of him, and she leaves much more quickly than he thinks is professional, slamming the door behind her. 

Cutler hears something from inside the box.

“An animal?” He asks, glancing back at his mentor with a confused grin. “Stefan? Did they bring me an animal?”

“Just open the box.”

Cutler lets out a short, quiet laugh, unlatching the thin metal lid and flicking it up. His eyes widen immediately, and he inadvertently jumps back at the sight of the figure inside. It’s a small person. It’s only a couple inches tall, and he can’t tell if it’s male or female–it’s wearing loose, blood-stained white clothes on its thin body. It’s bruised and severely beaten, and its breath comes out loud and ragged and quickly–quicker when it registers him in from of it.

“Don’t let them see any weakness, it’s not going to do them any good,” Stefan says. He points up to a camera in the corner of the room. “Administration wouldn’t like it much either. It’s your first time so they’ll be lenient, but in the future they’re going to expect you to get the job done without flinching.” He lets out a chuckle. “They’ll let you keep a couple for yourself if you perform well. Don’t tell anyone I told you that though.”

A small grin forms on Cutler’s lips, then spreads into a wide smile as he slowly lowers a hand to the trembling figure. It’s been beaten almost to death it looks like, and he isn’t sure why it’s still alive, let alone how. It quickly clicks that it was kept alive for _him_ , and for him alone. He runs a fingertip delicately along its side, biting his lip slightly to suppress a laugh at the sight of it flinching away from him. He hasn’t even hurt it but it’s terrified of him, and for some inexplicable reason that excites him. It feels wrong, but he’s enjoying this. 

“What am I doing with it,” he asks, barely containing his excitement.

“With this one? Whatever you want. They’re your first one, and administration just wants to make sure you’re okay getting your hands dirty.” 

Cutler immediately lets his finger rest over one of its arms, then grinds the limb into the bottom of the box roughly, feeling the flesh pop beneath his fingertip. He _laughs_ at the sensation. He should feel bad, but he doesn’t. It’s his, he can do what he wants with it.

“Do I have to kill it?” He asks, not taking his eyes off of the screaming figure in the box, rubbing his bloodied finger along their torso, gently feeling their body beneath his touch. There’s a long pause before Stefan responds.

“I suppose not. I can send word to the administration that you decided to do an extended endurance trial on them.”

“Good. Do that. Please.” Cutler plucks the person up in his hand, cradling them in his hand and using a finger to nudge at the stump, flicking bone shards and crushed muscle and flesh aside. Every movement elicits a breathy, frightened, _pained_ gasp from it. “Can I take it to my quarters?”

Stefan laughs. “Eager, are we? As long as you don’t let it escape I can let it slide, sure. You’ll want to cauterize that wound if you want to keep it for very long.”

“Consider it done,” Cutler says, plucking a cigarette and his lighter from his pocket. He lights his cigarette, and lowers it to the stump, pressing it into the embers–being careful not to burn himself in the process. 

A hoarse scream erupts from the figure in his grasp, and it’s followed by a small, dry laugh from Stefan. He feels a firm hand grip his shoulder, then pat his back. “You’ll fit in just fine here. That’s enough for today. Go get yourself some dinner and enjoy the rest of your evening. I’m sure you’ll figure out how to keep yourself entertained.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Cutler responds, carelessly dropping the small person into his pocket with his cigarettes. 


End file.
